Upon Further Review: Harris and Robinson have reservations for six

The Gators’ season-opener was never close.

In their 65-0 blowout over Eastern Michigan, Florida looked very impressive, scoring seven offensive touchdowns and racking up 655 total yards.

The Gators had several big plays, including a pick-six from true freshman safety Duke Dawson, a 31-yard touchdown run by Kelvin Taylor and a 40-yard touchdown run by Matt Jones.

RELATED: Florida report card: Offensive grades in season-opening win

However, no play was bigger than Treon Harris’ 70-yard bomb to wide receiver Demarcus Robinson for a touchdown early in the fourth quarter. Before we discuss this play a little more in-depth, here’s the video of Harris’ first career touchdown.

On the surface, this is just one of several big plays for the Gators against Eastern Michigan, but looking deeper there are a few reasons why this play sticks out above the rest.

• A strong, defined pocket for the quarterback – In recent years, the offensive line has had its fair share of struggles. However, Saturday was a different story as the Gators allowed no sacks and kept a lot of the pressure away from the quarterback. A play like this is very encouraging for Florida fans. Too many times in the pat, it seemed like whenever the Gators looked for a big play downfield, the offensive line wasn’t able to create enough space or time for the quarterback to make the play. Not the case here. Of course, you must factor in it was against Eastern Michigan and not Alabama, but progress is progress and it’s a great sign for a position group that’s struggled in the past
• Treon Harris drops a dime – I mean, what a throw by Harris, right? The true freshman dropped a 46-yard dime right in stride with Robinson’s route. He threw it only where his guy could go up and get it against some pretty tight one-on-one coverage downfield. Big plays have been few and far between for the Gators, so to see a true freshman quarterback deliver a pinpoint accurate deep ball is a pleasant surprise for the Orange and Blue faithful.
• Demarcus Robinson shows off his skills – If you asked Florida fans which player they’d prefer to be on receiving end of this highlight, you’d probably hear Demarcus Robinson’s name a lot. When he signed with Florida, fans had visions of him resurrecting the Gators’ receiving corps with his jaw-dropping athleticism and physical receiving style. After a tumultuous freshman season, fans were eager to see a more mature Robinson get the opportunities on the field to show what he could do. A play like this is a perfect example as he goes up for a great, athletic catch in coverage and then shakes off the defender en route to a 70-yard touchdown.
• Finally, a big play for Florida – Earlier in the game, quarterback Jeff Driskel had taken some shots downfield, but thanks to pass interference calls or a drop by the wide receiver, he was unable to connect on the plays. Fortunately for Florida fans, Harris was able to change that with this downfield pass to Robinson and then a 78-yard pass to running back Mark Herndon later in the quarter. It’s plays like these that show new offensive coordinator Kurt Roper won’t be afraid to attempt the big plays downfield. Something that has been missing from the Gators’ offense since the departure of Tim Tebow and company. The Gators had three passing plays of more than 40 yards against Eastern Michigan. Compare that to only nine passing plays of 40-plus yards total over the last two seasons and the Gators are poised to be a much more explosive team in 2014.

Drew Laing

Drew Laing will be providing analysis and insight on Florida, Georgia, Missouri and South Carolina.